Friday, February 12, 2010

VETERAN referee Laurence Cole will be the third man on the ring when Manny Pacquiao defends his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown against Joshue Clottey of Ghana on March 13 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on March 13.

Cole, who resides in Texas and runs an insurance business, has been tabbed by WBO president Francisco Valcarcel to referee the fight, according to Examiner.com.

Cole was also the third man on the ring during the recent WBC lightweight title bout in Monterey, Mexico, between Edwin Valero and Antonio DeMarco.

Cole was also the referee when Pacquiao stopped Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003.

Meanwhile, two Hollywood stars walked into the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles on Wednesday to meet Pacquiao just before he started his afternoon training session.

The two–Belgian martial arts star Claude Van Damme and Danny Trejo–rubbed elbows with the Filipino pound-for-pound king who invited the two movie stars to watch his fight against Clottey.

Trejo, according to Philboxing.com, presented Pacquiao a copy of his famous photo from "Desperado" where he shows off many knives under his long jacket.

Also on Wednesday, staff at the Wild Card gym requested fans not to crowd the parking area at the training facility, adding Pacquiao will no longer sign autographs after each training session.

The gym shares parking spaces with a beauty parlor, boutique, a mini-grocery, a Thai restaurant and a couple of other businesses that are being deprived of parking spaces due to the influx of visitors to the gym.

Manny Pacquiao Profile

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao born December 17, 1978, more commonly known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer.

He is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, Ring Magazine light welterweight champion, and is rated by Ring Magazine as the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

He is also the former WBC World lightweight champion, WBC World super featherweight champion, IBF World super bantamweight champion, and WBC World flyweight champion. Furthermore, he is the former Ring Magazine featherweight and super featherweight champion.

Joshua Clottey Profile

Joshua Clottey (born in March 16, 1976 in Accra, Ghana) is a Welterweight boxer who hails from Accra, Ghana, but now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF Welterweight Champion.